Eng in Pak, Oct 7-28

[sussexpob]

Babar Azam tickles one behind.... 41-3....

England all over Pakistan. Have they managed to find a way to win this test?

[sussexpob]

41-4.... That is one of the worst shots I think I have ever seen anyone play ever. What the hell is that?

[sussexpob]

41-4.... That is one of the worst shots I think I have ever seen anyone play ever. What the hell is that?

Still trying to work that out. I have absolutely no idea what he was trying to do. How do you even manage to hit that ball there?

[meninblue]

Shan Masood has had a horrible time as test captain. Australia whitewashed Pakistan 3-0 when Pak toured Aus, even Bangladesh whitewashed Pakistan 2-0 in tests series which was played in Pakistan in recent past and now England follow it making further mockery of this Pakistan team. Who looses at Multan after scoring 550 batting first . Can't get worse than this.

[meninblue]

41-4.... That is one of the worst shots I think I have ever seen anyone play ever. What the hell is that?

Still trying to work that out. I have absolutely no idea what he was trying to do. How do you even manage to hit that ball there?

He gets out like that only. Hyped as an attacking player but scores nothing. His dismissals will always be under scrutiny the way he plays. Scores only in PSL - played well in that comp this year. Far off from the expectations that selectors are expecting from him. Hoping for top order replacement in Saim Ayub across two formats , they are not getting the performances from him.

[meninblue]

And England are without Jimmy and Broad. No Ben Stokes form the recent team. No spinners like Swann and Monty who wreaked havoc in India and won a historic series.

There was a time when Pak who had MoYo, Younis Khan, Inzi, Misbah, Wasim, Waqar, Shoaib, Saqlain. How drastically the quality has fallen.

Even Azhar Mahmood and Abdul Razaak would have scored more than few batsmen here at Multan.

Suddenly i realize, only India from the Asian subcontinent has managed to replace cricketers of acceptable performance even though we do not have anyone in the class of Fab 4 of Sehwag, Rahul, Sachin, VVS.

[meninblue]

England might well win this tomorrow by tea or may even finish presentation ceremony and reach hotel by tea time tomorrow.

[sussexpob]

England might well win this tomorrow by tea or may even finish presentation ceremony and reach hotel by tea time tomorrow.

Or today... Rizwan castled by Carse. Just a straight ball on the stumps that.

England have put it on the stumps mainly, Pakistan have obliged with horrendous batting....

[meninblue]

England might well win this tomorrow by tea or may even finish presentation ceremony and reach hotel by tea time tomorrow.

Or today... Rizwan castled by Carse. Just a straight ball on the stumps that.

England have put it on the stumps mainly, Pakistan have obliged with horrendous batting....

Nothing new in that, used to this more often than not. Here on this Multan wicket, bowlers are no more useful than a bowling machine. This wicket is better than actual roads that are there in India, SriLanka, Pakistan or SriLanka This match due to nature of this wicket was supposed to be used by batsmen of both team like batting nets practice, yet they have lost 5 for 75 as if this is Ferozshah Kotla or Mumbai where Michael Clarke took 6 fer or SA wickets in recent times,or that one deadly wicket in WI where England lost badly.

[sussexpob]

Saud Shakeel tickles one behind from Leach's second ball. Its a straight, a bit short, a bit wide.... another poor shot

[Durhamfootman]

Goodness, what a turnaround. What are Pakistan playing at?

[meninblue]

Pak cannot give the excuse that they lost because England made them field for 150 overs in such hot weather. Well, by that logic England should not have scored anywhere near 823 runs after Pakistan had made England field for two days during which England bowled 149 overs. Even the toss was favorable for Pakistan.

Fact is that Pakistan has been awful before the T20i WC started although they have lost to minnow teams and NZ B side during IPL in other formats. USA beat them There is too much chaos and lack of quality players. Although the formats are different, their core players are same in disastrous losses. They seem to be defeated in the confidence and ability to execute the skills. There are other issues within the team which has its own negative impact on team building etc. Mohsin Naqvi said a major surgery will be done post T20i cup. Now he will come out and say major surgery is required in test format as well. How many surgeries will he do, at this rate they will need to open a multi-specialty hospital.

Bangladesh whitewashed 2-0 in test series in Pakistan. Here on this wicket, nobody should have lost especially considering the wicket and both team have played 149+ overs each in their batting innings. But with Pakistan, it is quite normal to collapse more often than not.

[meninblue]

Bazball approach flopped in India and England lost the series. Whereas, in this series against Pakistan, Bazball has worked as England scored 823 at sr of 5.48 rpo. and are massive favorites to win this test. Such a opposite effect in two different series.

It will be interesting to see whether Bazball works in test series between England and Australia in Australia.


Pakistan has a very poor spin attack. Abrar is very inexperienced and not bankable. Salman Agha is second spinner On this road, three proper spinners should be there to take the workload of a long bowling attack. But this is horrible spin attack. Over that, the wicket these spinners got, it decreased their impact further.

[andy]

I wonder if Jamie Smith could stand up to to Chris woakes and create another point of difference and indecision for the batsmen...Jamal looks solid coming forward and defending I wonder if Smith stood up and get in the mindset of Jamal could create chance in another way...

[Arthur Crabtree]

Seven in the game for Leach. Well done to him, on a flat wicket.

Impressive from England after day 1.